Jubal glanced at her sons and daughters, all of whom were anxiously waiting to hear his answer to the question. “Thanatos will have informed him by now and if all goes well, I will personally bring your husband to the new settlement sometime in the morning,”
Ur, her oldest boy, smiled. “It will be good to see my Pa again. I was eleven the last time he saw me and now I am a year older and nearly a foot taller.”
The entire family was dressed in linens, the cheapest of clothing, but they were all clean and in good repair. Jubal felt the need to intervene. “Vashti, we leave within the hour, see if someone can get woolens for this young man, his mother, sisters and brothers. We could be facing a cold and wet night and they will need the warmth.”
“I will see to it,” Bast volunteered. “Kareesia, come with me.”
She led the family of eight Tinies out of the room.
Jubal placed Connisea on her own two feet and then went over to his work bench and retrieved a box. Inside were seven crystal blue globes, each could fit in the palm of his hand. “Hermes would start ranting if he were to hear me say this,” he said and then showed his latest Aakatools to the other Aakacarns. “Each of these producers contains the Melody, Aqua Sphere. In this instance I prefer giving you the tools over teaching you the restricted Aaka.”
“You are right,” Ursa confirmed what did not really need confirming. “He would call us all dullards and demand to be taught the Melody.”
“He is not in a position to make demands of my husband,” Vashti rightly pointed out.
“Be that as it is,” Jubal replied and went on to explain, “These globes will be necessary tonight. Each of you Aakacarns is to take one.”
Vashti, Natura, Ursa, and Victoria each took a crystal globe. “Bast will get hers when she returns. Pan and Thanatos will get the remaining two when time permits,” Jubal informed them. “I do not really need one, which is why I gave mine to Vicky.”
“My thanks,” she responded positively, even though her inclusion had been an afterthought.
“We will be moving in four groups. I will travel with Peleg and his family, Kareesia and her three boys will travel with Ursa, her four daughters will be traveling with Victoria, and Ruuple and his family will travel with Natura,” Jubal made the decision. “When Bast gets back we will be going down to the pool.”
Natura smiled. “I knew we would go through the pool. I trust these producers will make it possible, but admit to being a little apprehensive about using an unfamiliar tool.”
She was probably not the only one. Jubal decided to explain. “The sphere somehow converts water to breathable air, I do not know how, and it dissipates exhalations, while maintaining a comfortable temperature. In time I will study exactly what the Melody is doing to accomplish what it does, but for now I simply know the Aaka makes it possible for us to travel underwater without getting wet or drowning, so long as you keep a flow of power feeding the globe. You all have experience using the animal amulets. These producers work the same way, except you grip them in your fist rather than wear them.”
Vashti continued to examine the crystal sphere in her hand and after a brief study placed it in her pocket. “I will be using this in the future, no doubt, but it seems to me this would be a good time for you three to head down to the pool and practice.”
Jubal had more producers to distribute. He opened another box and removed three figurines with gold chains, then handed one to each guide. “Use these amulets to hide your identities,” he instructed, then removed three other producers and handed the box to his wife. “Keep this container and the other figurines well hidden, especially the one of me.”
“Of course,” she replied. “I will take care of it and cover for you while you’re out.”
“Is there a reason you dressed each female Anakim as a Weapocarn?” Natura asked the question while putting on the device and incidentally interrupting the conversation.
Ursa turned to the wife of Pan. “We will be traveling without our cloaks. The cut of the coat and pants will cover the rest of our silks perfectly,” she correctly replied and then put on the producer.
Her new persona equaled Elusion in size. The female forms created for the other two guides were smaller than her, but larger than their actual proportions. All of them had dark hair and light brown complexions. Only their eyes were the natural color of the wearer.
“If you had thought to make them males, no one would ever suspect these individuals as being women,” Victoria pointed out in a superior tone of voice.
“You are so picky, be grateful I gave you a foot more height,” Jubal replied, as older brother to smart-mouthed sibling, but then decided to share his reasoning. “I made the figurines female so your personas could talk. None of you have voices deep enough to pass as male. Even so, I suggest you alter the sound of your voices, give your guises a name and their own personalities, and make them far different from your true selves.”
His sister smiled. “My name is Nemesis and woe betides the person who makes an enemy out of me.”
Jubal could well image the mayhem she would unleash, but did not bother to point out such would not be far from her true personality.
Natura walked over to the bench, picked up the reflector, and studied her new image. “I shall be called, Gaea.”
Ursa extended her hand and the wife of Pan gave her the reflector. “Luna, this girl will be known as Luna.”
With the identities established it was time to do as Vashti suggested. “You three should head down to the pool and practice using the globes. We will be down when Bast returns with Kareesia and her family,” Jubal told the Aakacarns and then watched them enter the storage closet.
When Bast escorted the family of eight back to the workroom, Jubal handed her a figurine and explained what it was for. She placed the producer in her pocket and smiled. “I will call my alter ego, Lynx.”
“Call her whatever you wish, but make her believable,” Jubal replied, while putting on the remaining figurines to lie against his collarbone beside the Weapocarn, and then turned to face the three families. “It is time to go.”
He led them into the storage closet and down the spiral stairs to the pool far below. The lower chamber was illumed by a ball of light he had caused to appear earlier in the day. It had a permanent Da Capo tied to his life-force to sustain the potential. The white stone bench surrounding the large circle of water was bathed in blue. Standing near the brass rail around the edge at the waterline were Ursa, Natura, and Victoria. Jubal led the families to the pool.
“The idea of traveling under the water using your magic to protect us sounded good, but seeing that pond in the middle of the floor makes me nervous.” Hadassah commented.
“It makes me nervous too,” Bast admitted. “I am glad he did not assign the task to me.”
She was not helping. Jubal shook his head, but chose not to rebuke her. “You can thank Vicky, who joined our cause recently; otherwise the fourth group would have been guided by you. Hadassah, do not worry. I have been through this passage and out in the river many times. It is familiar ground. Now, you and your family need to gather by me,” he stated in an even tone, and when the woman, Rue, Connisea, and Peleg, complied, Jubal assumed the Elusion persona and then used the Aaka, Aqua Sphere, to summon the potential.
A huge ball of light appeared in the vivid green color of his filtered life-force energy with he and his extended family in the center. “Follow me into the water and stay close. The sphere will always center on me and will convert the water into breathable air. Also, stay close to me because it is possible for you to pass beyond the energy field and possibly drown in the water.”
His warning caused more than a few rapid intakes of breath and a moan out of Hadassah, but the warning had been necessary. He deliberately did not speak of the other very real dangers they would be facing once they entered the river, else they panic and then refuse to go.
Natura, Ursa, and Victoria, gave the same warning to their gr
oups. Since Peleg, Hadassah, and Rue were carrying sacks, Jubal placed Connisea on his shoulders and then started down the steps in the pool.
“Each person’s sphere is a different color,” Rue observed, him and his family being among the very few groups of Tinies whose life-force energies were powerful enough to guarantee longevity and the ability to see the auras, although theirs was not able to be replenished.
“You all can see by the glow of my potential but Vicky and Ursa must provide light so Kareesia and her family can see well enough to keep from tripping or moving beyond the edge of the sphere,” Jubal spoke as he stepped down to the bottom of the pool and headed into the vent that would lead them to the river.
“It is as if we are walking in a cave,” Hadassah commented. “This is not so bad.”
“How long is this tunnel?” Peleg wanted to know.
“We have a long walk ahead of us. It is a little over nine thousand paces from my house to the river and then we will be walking up stream,” Jubal replied, leaving out a few details that could cause them to become discouraged.
“It was my understanding we would be traveling up river by boat,” Hadassah stated what she had been told of the plan.
Jubal glanced back at her. “According to Bast, there are Weapocarn patrols up and down the river. Some of them are on boats and some in the woods on both banks. Fortunately they do not travel far at night, not nearly as far as the night-fishers.”
“How far do the hunters range at night?” Rue asked the question while shifting Deborah’s sack from one shoulder to the other.
They would know soon enough, Jubal figured there was little point to holding back the truth. “Five spans. They do not like to travel far at night or stay near the river, unless they are on a boat, and those on a watercraft have little incentive to go farther.”
“And why is that?” Hadassah had to ask.
“Even Weapocarns are leery going where many carnivores are seeking food,” Jubal answered, honestly.
“Don’t worry. We are with Uncle Jubal. It is the predators who need to be leery of him,” Rue spoke with the confidence that comes from having spent time in the wild with his powerful relative and with ignorance of the enormity of the threat.
Jubal decided it would not hurt to add a little something to keep them calm. “I have more than a few defensive Melodies playing in my head with Da Capos and will be able to instantly focus potential at any creature that poses a danger to us.”
“He means he has spells ready and so we don’t need to worry,” Rue evidently felt an interpretation was in order.
They reached the opening to the river and Jubal stepped out onto the muddy bottom. The floor of the sphere provided a slightly spongy but otherwise firm surface on which to walk, solidifying the riverbed for the brief time the energy-field was passing over it.
Behind, he could see each of the other spheres exit the tunnel and turn to follow him. The angry red of Victoria was flowed by the laurel pink of Ursa, which was followed by the moss green energy-field given off by Natura. The sight reminded Jubal to add a tint to their figurines as soon as possible. No matter the outward appearance, those unique auras would reveal their identities to any Nephilim familiar with those three Aakacarns. The spheres were visible but not the people inside.
The light given off by his sphere was enough to see the outlines of creatures in the distance and good enough to see minnows streaming to the immediate right and left of the energy-field. Frogs, Sunfish, and bluegills swam in the water above while catfish and lobster-like crayfish stalked their prey along the bottom. The sphere passed on top of one such creature, causing it to freeze in place until Jubal had passed beyond that point. He looked back and was pleased to see the crustacean with two great claws resume it search for food.
They passed by a sunken sailboat and it reminded Jubal of the task that awaited him in the morning. The wreck was one span up river from where he would meet Betsenadab on the surface.
“It is as if I could reach out and grab that trout,” Peleg observed with an outstretched arm that halted near the edge of the orb but prudently did not go beyond it. He did not seem to realize the fish actually could be grabbed and pulled inside.
“Look at the size of that snapping turtle!” Rue shouted in a voice much too loud for the confines of the sphere.
“Lower your voice, young man,” Hadassah scolded.
Jubal noted the reptile but was more concerned about the crocodile being propelled by the swishing of a powerful tail. While most of the underwater creatures seemed to instinctively steer clear of the globe of air, perhaps sensing the energy-field, the river king, over twenty paces in length, was swimming directly toward the strange thing that had entered his domain.
“Um, this spell will keep out creatures like that, will it not?” Hadassah almost pleaded for an affirmative answer.
At that moment an eight foot long gar darted for the globe. The fish’s long snout and needlelike teeth passed through the top of barrier and then the rest of the elongated body. Diamond-shaped scales glistened in the green light and were pretty to look upon for the couple of eye-blinks in time in which it hung in the air, and then the gar fell, landing between Jubal and Rue. It began flopping wildly, slapping feet and ankles with the dorsal and anal fins that were located far on the back end of its body. The other end was a greater threat. Sandals would be no protection against those snapping jaws and only one person was wearing boots.
Jubal spun around and kicked the fish beyond the barrier and back into the current. The river-resident had just enough sense not to turn around and try entering again, and incidentally had answered the question about whether or not a creature could pass through the barrier.
Hadassah and Connisea suddenly screamed, the little one making Jubal wince, seeing as she was sitting right by his ear. Between the distraction caused by them and the gar, he barely had time to focus on the crocodile. The great reptile could not have been more than twenty-five paces from the energy-field, which had just proven to be absolutely no protection, and his aquatic majesty was mere moments from reaching his foe.
Jubal concentrated, sending a vivid green beam of light from his right hand, and straight into the snout of the oncoming monster. The massive tail locked in place just as it swished to the left, causing the croc to curve to the right, and even so momentum carried those mighty jaws into the sphere along with the massive neck and one clawed foot.
The screaming increased with Rue and Peleg joining the chorus of panic. The boy jumped back, hit the energy-field, and was half way out of the sphere when Jubal’s reflexes took over. His right hand shot out and locked onto Rue’s wrist. Eleven-year-old Rue was much bigger than seven year-old Rue had been, but still tiny and lightweight in the hands of a Nephilim. One firm pull brought the boy back to Jubal’s side. “This is not the time to wander off or go swimming,” he scolded his nephew, who stood dripping wet and blinking wildly.
Peleg kept pounding on the creature’s half open snout with the sack of clothing as if his actions were actually having any effect other than being a waste of energy. The effort certainly did nothing to protect him or his family. His shouts of, “Die, die, die,” also contributed nothing in regard to resolving the problem.
A deep bass tone rumbled from the overgrown lizard because the royal reptile’s joints were locked tight and it clearly resented being unable to move anything more than its eyelids. “Register your complaint with someone who cares,” Jubal told the croc. “Everybody please stop screaming. Peleg, if you keep doing that the sack will catch on a tooth and tear open. Take note that this creature cannot even twitch a claw until I permit it to do so. The crocodile is completely under my control. Now you will all calm down and we are going to keep walking,” he added and then laundered Rue’s clothing.
The threat had been neutralized and a steady walk away from the predator left it behind, well out of the sphere at the river bottom. Even so, the screaming did not stop for several minutes and it took an addi
tional half an hour for the whimpering to end.
“What are those up ahead,” Hadassah asked while pointing.
“Those nets belong to the night-fishers,” Jubal replied. “If you look up it is possible to make out the shapes of their boats on the surface.”
An energy beam flashed from the rear, drawing his attention. A huge snake was heading toward Vicky’s sphere. He estimated the width of the reptile to be two cubits and the length over thirty. Her potential hit the target, causing the entire creature to glow, and then she levitated it up toward the surface, unfortunately she shoved it into one of the nets.
“She should be more careful,” Jubal criticized inwardly rather than speak out loud.
Victoria or Nemesis deliberately spun the snake, wrapping the netting around the massive body, hopelessly entangling the creature along with the many fish that had been caught. Her move had been no accident. The struggle grew so fierce the long boat was being taken for a jerky ride. The glow ceased, meaning she cut off the potential, but the battle between fishers and snake continued. The contest ended when the mighty serpent snapped the netting loose from the boat. The great reptile swam away with fish and netting still wrapped around it but otherwise unhindered.
“How will it get rid of the net?” Rue asked.
Jubal faced forward, continuing his walk up river. “That, fortunately, is not my problem.”
A school of bluegills suddenly swerved into the pink sphere and vanished. After a few moments individual fish began popping out of the energy-field as if being shoved or thrown. Ursa never stopped her forward motion and as she progressed, piles of fish appeared at the rear on the river bottom and slowly began to stir out of shock.
Jubal pressed on and a frog passed through the energy field and Rue took it upon himself to capture and then shove the creature back into the water. More crocodiles swam to the right and left of the spheres. Jubal used Elevation to shove more than a few of them away when they headed in his direction or toward and other spheres.
Dawn Of The Aakacarns Page 42